Frequently asked questions
This is an unofficial, user-created Frequently Asked Questions for the Duolingo language-learning website. For official information about Duolingo, see https://www.duolingo.com/info. 'Incubator (new language course creation)' 'What is the language Incubator?' :The Duolingo language Incubator is where bilingual volunteers from around the world connect to build new language courses for Duolingo. 'When will Duolingo offer a course for the in the blank language?' : New courses are being added to Duolingo using the Duolingo Incubator. You can see which courses are currently being "incubated" at http://incubator.duolingo.com/. The Incubator relies on volunteers who are fluent in both languages, so if you know someone who is, encourage them to apply at http://incubator.duolingo.com/apply. Currently Duolingo is adding new courses slowly in order to make sure everything in the Incubator is working properly, but they plan on adding courses for as many as 50 more languages in 2014"Luis von Ahn on Duolingo's Plans for 2014", http://www.crowdsourcing.org/editorial/luis-von-ahn-on-duolingos-plans-for-2014/30191, so stay tuned. 'How do I apply to help create a course teaching from A to B if my preferred options are missing?' * You can apply to help create a Duolingo course at http://incubator.duolingo.com/apply. * If the language you want to teach to or from is not listed in the drop-down menus, select "Enter Other" and type it in. (Image) :: Note: Currently, far fewer options appear at http://incutabor.duolingo.com. (This inconsistency has been reported and is awaiting an update. Feb 24, 2014) : : 'I want to help create courses in both directions between two languages. Do I need to apply separately for each direction?' : Nope, you only need to apply for one of the directions. The Duolingo staff will review applications for both directions when assembling a team for either direction.https://www.duolingo.com/comment/1670141 Much of the content of a course teaching language A from language B will also be used to create the course teaching language B from language A, so by contributing to one course direction you will already be contributing to the opposite direction as well. 'I applied to help create a course but haven't heard back. What gives?' : Duolingo is rolling out new Incubator courses slowly at first, so it may take some time before they are ready to incubate the course you applied for. They are also receiving thousands of applications for Incubator contributors and those take some time to go through."Incubator Updates", https://www.duolingo.com/comment/1377701 'How long does it take a course to leave Phase 1 in the Incubator?' * For a rough estimate of when a course will leave Phase 1 and enter Phase 2 (aka "beta" phase ), please visit the Duolingo Incubator page at http://incubator.duolingo.com/ and click on the course you're interested in. An estimated completion date will be shown below the course progress bar. (Image). * Some courses have been made in under two months. Others have taken 4 months or even longer. A couple of factors include how much time volunteers have to give each week and whether or not Duolingo already has an interface ready for that language's script (examples of scripts include: Latin, Kanji, Arabic, Cyrillic, etc.); and whether or not Duolingo has to create a new interface for that language. If Duolingo has to create a new interface, the course will take longer to move into Phase 2. * Once a course is complete, it will move to Phase 2 and will be available for use by Duolingo website users. (Only Phase 3 courses are available on the Apps.) : Note: Anyone can sign up to take a beta course (Phase 2) on the website. However, at this phase, the course still has many errors. This stage is intended for bilingual users to test the course and report any errors for correction. : 'What does it mean for a course to be in "beta"?' : It means that it's a relatively new course and there might be some errors, so it's going through a "beta" or testing phase before it's "officially" released. Beta courses are fully accessible for Duolingo website users but may not be available in the Android or iOS apps. 'How long does a course stay in beta?' : Courses are released from beta once they meet certain quality requirements. How long that takes will vary but may be about a month or two. Beta courses are fully usable via the Duolingo website during that time but may not be available in the Android or iOS apps. 'Lessons/Courses' 'How do I reverse my language direction, add a new course, or use a beta course?' #From the Home tab (https://www.duolingo.com/), click the flag icon in the top right of the language progress section. (Image) #Choose the course you want from the "Learning Language" options. #Click "Save changes". : Note: Changing your Base language will also change the Duolingo web interface to that language. : 'What happened to the vocabulary section?' : The vocabulary section was recently removed as part of Duolingo's recent site redesign. There are plans to add a new and improved vocabulary section in the near future. 'I found an error in one of Duolingo's language exercises. How can I report it?' : You can report an error in an exercise using the "Report a Problem" button that appears below the exercise after you've entered your answer. Clicking on the button will display a list of common errors (depending on the type of exercise) as well as a text area to type in your own error report. Check the checkbox(es) next to the error(s) you wish to report and click "Submit". 'In a lesson, I have a question about a translation or a grammar / vocabulary / idiomatic / conjugation question tied to a translation. Who can help me?'"What would you want to see in a FAQ?", https://www.duolingo.com/comment/781395 : Click the "Discuss sentence" button at the bottom of the lesson page and see if your question has been asked and answered before. If it hasn't, go ahead and ask it there. 'How can I help Duolingo users learning my language?' : In the "Discussion" tab there are language sections which contain general questions about that language as well as questions about specific sentences taught through Duolingo lessons. When answering a question try to back up your answer with dictionary or grammar references. : If there is not a section for the language you want to help with visible in the discussion area, you will have to change to a course teaching that language to see it. Instructions for doing so are available here. 'How do I change the voice of the person who pronounces the words and sentences?' : Duolingo currently doesn't support that. 'What's an "XP"?' : "XP" is short for "e'x'''perience '''p'oint" and is a reward you get for finishing lessons or practices or for making or rating translations in the Immersion section. As your XP increase so does your Duolingo language level. 'What is the highest level?' : The highest level you can reach in a language course is 25. 'How many XP do I need to get to the highest level?' : You need 30,000 XP to reach level 25. 'What does my level really mean?' : It just means that you've accumulated a certain number of XP from doing lessons & practices and using Immersion. Some correlation has been found between XP and word "peeks" on the one hand and standardized language test results on the other"Duolingo’s Data-Driven Approach to Education", http://blog.duolingo.com/post/41960192602/duolingos-data-driven-approach-to-education but the correlation isn't perfect. The correlation may also change as Duolingo changes how much XP is awarded for each task. 'How effective is Duolingo at teaching a language?' : One study found that "a person with no knowledge of Spanish would need between 26 and 49 hours (or 34 hours on average) Duolingo to cover the material for the first college semester of Spanish.""How effective is Duolingo?", https://www.duolingo.com/effectiveness-study More information is available here. 'What dialect does Duolingo teach for language X?' *English: American *Spanish: Latin American *French: Parisian *Portuguese: Brazilian 'Should I learn multiple languages at the same time?' : This really depends on personal preference, and ability. You may refer to this article or this for a more detailed discussion. 'Input methods' 'Is there an easier way to type accents and special characters than using the clickable buttons?' : You can install a keyboard layout that supports typing those characters even on a keyboard that isn't marked for them. For instructions on how to do that, see the Guide to Installing Keyboard Layouts. For information on some of the layout options available to install, see the Guide to keyboard layouts and input methods. : Windows users can also use Alt codes and Mac OS users can use key combinations accessible from their default keyboard layout. 'How do I type accents or the German letter "ß" on my cell phone?' : On an Android device, tapping and holding on a letter key will bring up the option of adding an accent to it. Tapping and holding on the "s" key will bring up the option to type "ß". 'Immersion' 'What is "Immersion" and how do I use it?' : Immersion is a section of the Duolingo website where users practice the language they are learning by helping to translate real-world documents from that language to their native one. Much more information and frequently-asked questions about Immersion can be found in the Immersion Navigation Guide and the Immersion Community Guidelines. The "Immersion" is only possible for courses, that have left the "Beta" stage. 'What happens to a document once it's been translated? Is it automatically copied to the original site?' : Unsponsored documents are not automatically copied anywhere. Instead, there is a button allowing the document uploader to download the translated version, which they can then put on another site provided they have the rights to do so. Instructions for downloading a translation are available here. 'How do I upload a finished translation to Wikipedia (or Wikinews, Wikibooks, etc.)?' :See How to Move Your Document from Immersion to a website. 'General' 'Where can I get help?' : There are various places to get help: * To report spam or abuse, contact the Duolingo support staff by emailing support@duolingo.com or by clicking on the "Support" tab on the left edge of the Duolingo website. * For troubleshooting technical issues with Duolingo, you can either use the above email address or support tab or post in the "Troubleshooting" section in the "Discussion" area. * For language-related questions you can post in a sentence-specific discussion area (using the "Discuss sentence" button appearing after you've submitted your answer) or in the appropriate language-specific forum. * For general questions about Duolingo, please search for an answer on this wiki (using the search box near the upper right corner of the page) as well as in the main Duolingo discussion area (using the search box to the left of the "New Discussion" button) and the additional resources linked here. If you cannot find an answer to your question in any of those places then you can ask about it in the main Duolingo discussion area or by contacting Duolingo support via the above-mentioned methods. 'What are followers or friends ?' : Followers are users who are interested in seeing a user's updates, posts, or progress through the tree. Friends are people who a user follows. 'What is the Lingot Store ?' :The Lingot Store is a section of the Duolingo website where users can purchase certain items using lingots. More information can be found in the Lingot Store section. 'I have feature X but my friend doesn't (or vice versa). What gives?' : Part of what makes Duolingo so great is that it is constantly trying to improve itself. One of the ways it does this is by testing possible new features on a subset of its users before rolling it out to everyone. This way it can tell whether the feature is actually an improvement or not before it commits to it. That's why you will sometimes have a feature that your friends don't have or vice versa. 'I love Duolingo. How can I help the site?' *Tell people about it. The more people who use and contribute to Duolingo, the better it becomes. *Once you start getting the knack of the language you're learning, try translating some real-world content in the Immersion section at https://www.duolingo.com/translations. Documents that are marked as "Sponsored" help Duolingo pay the bills, and even unsponsored documents help Duolingo to refine its algorithms for finding the best translations. *If you or someone you know is fluent in two (or more!) languages, you can help Duolingo make new language courses or improve existing ones. Apply at http://incubator.duolingo.com/apply. *If you see an error in one of Duolingo's language exercises, report it using these instructions. Reporting errors helps Duolingo make its courses even better. *If you want to show your Duolingo Pride, you can buy a t-shirt or other item from the "Gear" store at http://gear.duolingo.com/. These items are priced at cost, so Duolingo makes no money off them, but they can be a nice way of helping spread the word about the site. 'Can I donate money to Duolingo?' : Duolingo does not currently accept donations. It earns money from its users translating real-world content in the Immersion section. 'This FAQ doesn't answer my question. Where else can I find answers?' *Official Duolingo information pages *Official Duolingo Help Page *Another user-created FAQ *Guide to Duolingo guides *Immersion navigation guide 'References'